New sets and... ninja legs? Huh?

[Carda]

Well, I finally got a chance to hit up the Downtown Disney Lego store in Anaheim yesterday, and while I was there I picked up some sets (and a few other things). Of note:

The Chameleon Hunter Exo-Force set makes me want to try out new and better ways of setting things on fire in a BrikWars game, especially with that huge flame cannon piece. The claw on the other arm is pretty sweet, too.

The Clone Wars Anakin (or should it be Angst-Again?) Skywalker minifig looks odd to me. Might just be that they're trying too hard to make it look like the cartoony version.

The new Castle sets featuring the trolls (I think they look more like orcs, but that's probably just the World of Warcraft player in me talking) look like they're going to be awesome. The Troll Battle Wheel (you're only going to find this in stores, actually; it's not available on the Lego store website yet even though I've seen it at the local Toys R Us for over a week) is a very cool siege engine and should be interesting to field in my next battle... I also wonder if/when the Dwarven Mine set is going to be available again, because I really want to get my hands on some of those dwarf minifigs...

The Rogue Shadow is absolutely incredible. My hat is off to whoever designed this set; it combines all the best of form and function with the swiveling wings and the hidden compartments for blaster rifles, rockets, and a spring-loaded missile launcher. And the minifigs are pretty interesting as well; both the Vader's Apprentice and Battle-Damaged Vader figures look like they've gone through hell and back (though Vader does come with a regular helmet, incidentally).

While I was there I had been keeping an eye out for the build-a-minifig bin, although I didn't spot it until I was about to check out. For the most part I picked individual parts over making a complete minifig (though I assembled them for both ease of transport and humorous effect). I wound up with a cutlass-wielding medic in cargo pants on a snowboard (with a manufacture date of 2002 on it; no wonder I hadn't seen anything like it before!), a helmeted cyber-ninja with a beetle-like symbol on his chest and springy legs (I'll get back to that) with a red Knights' Kingdom sword (finally, my Vladek minifig gets a sword that matches his color scheme!), and a helmet-wearing blue ninja dude with springy legs and a yellow scimitar.

The thing that baffles me is what theme these spring-loaded legs came from. They're designed so that when you bend the minifig torso forward or backward, it will snap back to an upright standing position automatically. Was this from some sports thing, or ninjas, or something else I don't know about? I'm curious to find what sort of sets I can get more of these in, but haven't a clue where to start... (I'm also curious about the scimitar, incidentally.)

[blackwing77]

There's a build-a-fig bins at Lego stores ?

[Rayhawk]

Yellow scimitars were from Johnny Thunder's trip to either India or China. The springy legs are from the NBA basketball sets.

[IVhorseman]

the downtown disney has a lego store? awesome! i was planning on heading up to disneyland soon, and now this!

[piltogg]

actualy disneyworld definetly does but i'm not shure about land...

[Carda]

Yes, Disneyland's Downtown Disney shopping district has one. That's where I went.

[Carrnevil9]

As unfair as this sounds Carda, I demand a set review on that Troll Battle Wheel along with the Rogue Shadow. I know we're practically the only ones who post them, but all I've seen of the wheel is a grainy picture from last year.

[Timedude]

Any chance we can catch a glimpse of your custom built minifigs?

Timedude

[Carda]

As unfair as this sounds Carda, I demand a set review on that Troll Battle Wheel along with the Rogue Shadow. I know we're practically the only ones who post them, but all I've seen of the wheel is a grainy picture from last year.

I've got a class this morning, but I should be able to take care of that this afternoon. The Wheel is awesome for BrikWars, though; all the Troll sets due to come out later this year have sort of a siege engine feel to them, from what I can see on the Wheel's packaging...

Any chance we can catch a glimpse of your custom built minifigs?

I'll drop a pic of them in this thread when I take pics for the reviews this afternoon.

[piltogg]

well, can the spring legs actualy make mfs jump

[james+burgundy]

There's a build-a-fig bins at Lego stores ?

Yes I got some fig at the one by Boston

[Carrnevil9]

Waaay back when I went to the Mall of America last year (December), I did see a create-a-minifig bin, but the price was pretty steep ($2.99 or something around there.) And there were lots of the basketball hinge legs there. There were also an abundance of purple flames, as each fig was allowed one weapon. But again, when I do the math and get 3 Stormtroopers and a Blackhole Trooper for $10...

[james+burgundy]

They were having a build a fig at all the outlets but only for a bit at lest last year. The store in DL has one there always

[Atomsk]

I'm considering visiting my sister in La Mirada just to stop by this store...

[Joetrillion]

When can we see pics of the figs.